Neotectonics at the Arabian plate margins

Opening of the Red Sea is accompanied by convergence between the Arabian pl ate and Eurasia. Regional topography and structure favour gravity glide as the main driving force of plate translation. At the leading edge of the pla te, the Zagros Mountains undergo coseismic serial folding which is equivale nt to Holocene shortening by similar to 20 mm/year and which has led to maj or episodes of coastal uplift of which the last was similar to 1700 years B P. At the Jordan Rift transform. which bounds the Arabian plate on the west . a recurrence interval of similar to 1600 years is reported for events of M-L greater than or equal to 5.5. The palaeomagnetic record for the last 3. 2 Ma indicates an average spreading rate for the Red Sea of similar to 20 m m/year: there is some evidence that hydrothermal activity in the Red Sea is pulsatory. with a period of similar to 2000 year, and that it reflects dis continuous spreading. The Holocene neotectonic records of the Zagros, the J ordan Rift and the Red Sea are the product of complex plate interactions an d of the accumulation and release of strain in the crust along the plate ma rgins. Bur they also reflect elastic strain energy storage and release with in the Arabian plate, whence parallels in the period of major deformation e pisode in the three deforming zones and the apparent discrepancy between th e seismic moment predicted by plate kinematics and that recorded in the Zag ros. Any associated intraplate deformation, if detected geodetically, would thus help the assessment of seismic hazard. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.